Improvement in gate-latches



tnitrdA Sttte @wat @attira DANIELSHEETS, -or suIsUN, CALIFORNIA.

Leners Param No. 96,041, amd october 19,1869.

TheBchedule referred to in these Lettere Patent and making part of the lame.

To all whom it 'may concern.-

Be it known that I, DANIEL SHEETS, of Suisun,

county of Sola-uo, State of California, have invented.

an Improved Gate-Latch and Lock; and I do hereby declare the following description and accompanying drawings are sufficient to enable anyperson skilled in the art or science to which it most nearly appertains, to make and use my said inventionor improvement, wit-hout further invention or experiment.

The nature of myinvention and improvements consist in the peculiar construction and arrangement of devices described and claimed in the following specification, and'represented in the accompanying drawings.

To more fully illustrate and explain my invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, and letters marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, of which- Figure 1 is a side view of a gate, with my latch attached.

Figure 2, a view ofthe face of the post holding the catch together, with a front and side view of the latch.

A is a gate,of that class which is hungupon hinges.

In order to construct the latch, I take two pieces of sheet-metal, B B, and place between them the lever C, and secure them together by a rivet, which passes, also,- through the lever. v

The lever C is placed so that when it issecured in place it will be unevenly balanced, one end being heavier than the other, thus causing it to stand at au angle.

Between the two metal plates, B B, and below the lever C, is a vertical bolt, a, which can be operated upon by a key through the key-hole b, so as4 to throw the bolt upward, until it bears against the lever C, on

the elevated end, thus preventing it from being uulatched. s

It is not necessaryv that a key should be employed, as a simple slide-bolt would answer every purpose, wit-hout the extra inconvenience of handling a key, which is liable to be lost. f

rIhe latch-end of the lever, when depressed, rests in a U-shaped socket, at g, which is just large enough to receive the latch, and is `fixed firmly-to the two plates, B B.

The latch thus formed is then mortised into the face of the post E of the gate, the long end of the lever C passing entirely through the post, and furnishing a means of unlatching the gate by raising it up with the hand; and a suitable key-hole is made in the proper place., to allow the key to operate the bolt, or it' the slide-bolt is used, a proper head is allowed to project, by which the bolt is to be operated.

The gate-post Fis cut away at a point opposite the latch or lever on the gate, shown at h, sufficiently to allow the square box g, in which the catch drops when the opposite end ofthe lever is elevated, to pass in, the cut being suiiiciently deep to allow the gate to lie Hush with the post. e

A vertical slot, t', is also cut in the post, ranging from the upper side of the cut, ath, in which the 4latchend of the lever C is thrown, by the superior weight of the opposite end of the lever.

The box g, in which the latch-end of the lever rests,

prevents the latch from being disturbed by 'any jar to the gate, and also upholds the swinging-end of the gate when it becomes loose upon its hinges, by bearing in the cut in the gate-post.

The simplicity of construction of lthis latch, consisting, as it does, of but few parts, renders it at once one ofthe most economical, useful, and durable latches which can be used on a gate'.

Having thus described my invention,

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The projecting box g, on I the lock-plate, as a protection to the end of the latch, to prevent its being bent or otherwise injured.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal.

DANIEL SHEETS. [1.. ,s.]

. Witnesses:

JOHN HENRY, J. L. BOONE. 

